Glorious Leader's Glorious Days as VP, Embezzlement, Alzheimer's

We get many emails leading us down memory lane. KBOO's past is fraught with, fraughtiness, a roller coaster of experience  throughout the years the organization has failed to learn from.

For instance take finances.  

At the beginning of the HATE EVIL FITCH campaign, Glorious Leader rebutted Traitor Hoyne with her experience as an ELDER and former Vice President of the Board and her alleged attempts to reign in Treasurer Kahlia Durham.  Ignoring Glorious Leader's wisdom, KBOO was embezzled out of $19,000 between/around 1995-1998:

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2013/05/423310.shtml?discuss#415542

2 bh

16.May.2013 17:26

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tm

link

IF you'll check the transcript of the May 4 meeting, you'll see that Lynn did admit to attempting to remove the entire Staff. That's why I keep mentioning it. Treasurer Paula was in on it. Then, when that plan was thwarted, Bullard Law, the (expensive!) anti-union firm, was hired. The Station Manager has obviously tried to manage perceptions of the situation, but it's just as obvious that she intended to clean house.

I am not inclined to believe what Lynn says. That's because I twice approached her, over the last few months, with fund-raising ideas, and was immediately told "we'll probably do that." She was not only lying, but attempting to dismiss me as a crank. One of those proposals was based on an idea that has raised a million dollars per year for WBUR; I know that, becauswe I personally researched it with WBUR staff. So now, if she says she doesn't intend to wipe out KBOO Staff, I take it as perception management. She is not a straight shooter, in my opinion. For example, she just sent out an email blast to KBOO members in which she appears cozily next to the CWA president...but if you listen to the CWA prez on the KBOO Labor Radio broadcast (  http://kboo.fm/content/laborradioon051313 ), you will hear a different story altogether.

As to whether I can comment on Staff competency, I would remind you that I am a 23-year veteran of KBOO--an "elder" if ever there was one--and a former Vice President of the Board of Directors (1995-1998). Board minutes from that era will show me desperately attempting to institute responsible Treasurer practices; I was ignored, and KBOO lost $19,000.00 to the then-Treasurer's embezzlement. (Her name was Kahlia Durham, and she's dead now.) Should I be silent now, when I see the core values of the Station threatened?

You asked if Staff could not be reassigned. They are frequently re-assigned; I have no problem with that. But a reassignment under the current manager would probably mean a realignment towards a downsized, dumbed-down station. As I said, I don't trust her.

I thank you for staying on topic and avoiding mere fireworks.

"Board minutes from that era will show me desperately attempting to institute responsible Treasurer practices;"

Perhaps Theresa Mitchell would like to share those minutes, because Dog knows there's not a snowball's chance in Hell of finding them on the KBOO website.  Otherwise it looks like Our Glorious Leader is "exaggerating" or has a touch of Alzheimer's.

-Kahlia Durham was not Treasurer; she was KBOO's business manager
-It wasn't $19,000, it was $11,000
-This was exposed in 1999, after Theresa Mitchell alleged term. (To be fair, that could be when the story broke after the damage was done.  OTOH it means it was happening under Mitchell's nose.)

This was covered by Willamette Week:

http://www.wweek.com/html/rogue020399.html

Seen a Rogue on the loose?
Get in touch with our Roguemeister:
JOHN SCHRAG
jschrag@wweek.com
(503) 243-2122
FAX: (503) 243-1115

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It's a sad day when even the do-gooders at KBOO aren't safe from thieves. But that's apparently what managers of the community radio station found last month. According to station manager Alan Baily, former KBOO business manager Kalia Durham is suspected of embezzling more than $11,000 from the station by forging checks. Portland police are currently investigating the claim, but in the meantime KBOO has won a court injunction to prevent Durham from spending any money that's not lawfully hers. It's beyond roguishness for someone to steal funds from an organization that runs on volunteer labor and listener contributions. But KBOO, the nation's fifth-oldest community radio station, may share some of the blame.

A few years ago, general manager Everett Rice left under a cloud after it was discovered that he was allegedly milking the station for extended sick leave that he didn't need. Before that, a not-so-savvy business manager didn't pay the IRS on time, bringing the wrath of the feds down on the station.

Since the Rice fiasco, we're told that KBOO hasn't really tightened its financial controls. Hopefully, the managers at the station will start doing so from now on. Running better background checks might also be a good idea. A quick look at readily available public documents would have revealed that before signing on with KBOO Durham had been convicted of--guess what?--theft.



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Willamette Week | originally published February 3, 1999

No mention of Glorious Leader in the Rogue column. But the criticisms of failing to " tightened its financial controls" ring eerily familiar.  History repeats.  And repeats and repeats...

There's a point where those who haven't swallowed the Kool Aid must face some facts about bad character no matter how much the organization or characters claim to have changed or "seen the light":

DO WE NEED TO PUT IT IN NEON?

-MT